The plan: Lisa would restart our WLS blogging with a reflective post on her learning truths from the last year. (It was wonderful!) I would follow with my own reflections in a week or two.

Instead: I did a lot of other things. I marched with 20,000 advocates on a sunny day in St. Petersburg for women’s rights and other unity principles; played host for long-weekend visits from three groups of dear friends and family; cooked experimentally; biked; went to the gym; cleaned house…each week (brutal); and kayaked with mermaids and manatees.

No surprise then that January blew by, a fully lived month. The lovely memories will sustain me for a long time. Read more →

National Public Radio wakes me up most mornings. Recently, Marketplace featured Amy Scott, the senior education correspondent, who riveted my attention to the broadcast at 5:00 AM. The titled segment “Learning Counts” reviewed work by the Institute for the Future in California and the ACT Foundation on the ledger. Read more →

It takes just one person to connect you to valuable learning activities.

Example: Bronwyn Stuckey, my mentor and learning ally halfway around the world, recently posed a question on her Facebook timeline. She tagged a few Facebook friends to notify them about her post, then waited. Read more →

How did 2015 go for you? Was it a good year, bad year, somewhere in between?

As you think about what you did last year, what learning gems will enrich your work-life this year? I ask because the seek-sense-share learning cycle Lisa and I follow includes reflecting on our experiences and applying our learning to our future decisions and performance.

Lisa’s blog post with its observations on 2015 and learning goals for this year intrigued me. I, too, am looking back at 2015 to decide what to keep, adapt, or discard. My insights are offered below. If you wish to enlighten or even rescue me, please comment on this post below or email us here.Read more →

Lisa and I were born curious and remain curious. The internet helps satisfy our inquisitiveness through RSS feeds to blogs; podcasts; videos on TED Talks, YouTube, and Vimeo; MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) and group discussions and research projects with colleagues online. And as learning concierges at the Studio, we are doing work not even imagined as a career a decade ago. So we must be self-directed, DIY (Do-It-Yourself) learners to keep growing our knowledge and skills to provide value to groups and individuals.

We are continually refining our digital literacy skills and teaching/learning designs to foster adult learning. That’s why headings such as “Lecture Me. Really.” that appeared on October 18 in the New York Times grab our attention.

University lecture hall from nikolayhg at Pixabay, http://bit.ly/1PELhpv

I admit to knee-jerk stereotypes about classroom lectures when asked what I think about them. To me, they are largely compulsory, passive, time-in-seat ventures Read more →

It’s that time of year again. It is officially Fall for us in North America. But it’s still 90 degrees and green in Florida where I live. No trees cloaked in flamboyant colors or cooler temperatures for us but college football schedules guide the behaviors of many among us once again.

My lead-in refers to another annual ritual though. Lisa blogged about it last week when she submitted her top ten learning tools in Jane Hart’s annual survey to identify the top 100 learning tools list for 2015. More than 2,000 learning and development professionals around the world participated this year in the 9th iteration of the survey. Participants included educators, training specialists, instructional designers, learning consultants, and DIY Professional Development/online learning enthusiasts like Lisa and me.

“I read a study that measured the efficiency of locomotion for various species on the planet. The condor used the least energy to move a kilometer. Humans came in with a rather unimpressive showing about a third of the way down the list….That didn’t look so good, but then someone at Scientific American had the insight to test the efficiency of locomotion for a man on a bicycle and a man on a bicycle blew the condor away. That’s what a computer is to me: the computer is the most remarkable tool that we’ve ever come up with. It’s the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds.”

…it is vitally important that we are constantly sharpening our skill set in order to stay competitive and relevant in a volatile jobs market and rapidly changing world. Skills that were cutting edge five years ago are likely out of date now, and the jobs that we will perform in the next decade or two may not even exist yet. What are some of the ways to develop new skills? –Ann Mehl, Executive and Business Coaching, September 1, 2015

ECO 2.0 is one VERY GOOD way to develop new toolsets, skillsets, and mindsets.

It was my turn at the WLS blog post helm this week. I spent hours and hours on a post that I could not finish. There was a reason for that; it lacked focus, flow, conclusion, and zip. The only passion I had was to get out of having to write it.

I was stuck in the blogging doldrums. I emailed Lisa that my blog post was delayed for yet another day, and then another day. She remained stoic and supportive as always.

Courtesy of en.wikipedia.org

I did not want to open a gap in our weekly publishing calendar. James Clear’s Next Avenue article referring to Jerry Seinfeld’s strategy for creating when the muse has left us brought this point home to me. A young comic asked Seinfeld for tips to improve his craft. Seinfeld advised that the very best way “to create better jokes … was to write every day.” The young comic recalled:

“[Seinfeld] told me to get a big wall calendar that has a whole year on one page and hang it on a prominent wall. The next step was to get a big red Magic Marker. He said for each day that I do my task of writing, I get to put a big red X over that day,” Isaac recalled.

Seinfeld continued: “After a few days, you’ll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You’ll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job is to not break the chain.”

In recent years, we have heard a lot about STEM careers (Science Technology Engineering Mathematics) ensuring a secure future in the workplace. STEM programs have been promoted in schools to encourage students to become interested in these generally well paying professions. As a result of this emphasis, Liberal Arts studies and colleges have fallen out of favor and are viewed as a waste of time and money by many. The general sentiment was that getting a liberal arts education was tantamount to “antiquated debt-fueled luxury goods.” as Peter Thiel, PayPal cofounder puts it. Although he studied Philosophy at Stanford, he doesn’t credit his education with contributing to his success.